Time To Get Stronger
by Jordeng2
Summary: It was a normal day for Lucy when Natsu turned it upside down, kicking her off the team and calling her weak at the same time. Being a guild-less mage, her world if fraught with danger around every turn and only her strength as a mage can help her through it. Will she live through the dangers to return to Fairy Tail and show them how she's grown or will she die trying? M to be safe
1. Rewritten Chapter 1

I am in love with Natsu Dragneel. It's as simple as that. I don't know exactly when or exactly how it happened. It just did. And today I plan on telling him just that.

I take my usual seat at the bar and order a strawberry shake from Mirajane. I don't know what she puts in her shakes, but I've never found one better than hers.

"So, Mira," I say, a sly smile gliding over my features as she hand me my shake. "How are things with you and Freed?"

Mira blushes a shade or red that rivals Ezra's own flaming scarlet hair. "What?" she squeaks, her fingers fumbling with the mug she's drying, nearly dropping it. "What are you talking about Lucy?"

I take a quick drag of my milkshake and continue. "Come on, Mira. I've told you everything about Natsu. It's you're turn to spill the beans! Besides Levy and I figured it out weeks go so its not worth trying to deny it. We know exactly what you two have been up too." I waggle my eyebrows suggestively and her blush worsens. "Details, Mira!"

Mira opens her mouth to reply when Natsu's voice rings through the guild hall. "LUCE!"

_Okay, now is the perfect time to tell him how I feel. _I tell myself.

"Natsu!" I beam at him, swiveling on my bar stool to greet him. Out of the corner of my eye I see Mira behind the bar, grinning eagerly at the two of us. She is without a doubt thinking of little pink haired, brown eyed babies.

Natsu runs up to me and grabs my hands in his warm ones. I can't stop the small blush that flashes across my cheeks at his actions. His dark eyes stare intently into mine before he opens his mouth and says, "I have something to tell you."

My heart skips a beat at his words. "I have something to tell you too."

"Really?" He asks in surprise.

"Yeah. But you go first." I tell him, trying not to focus on his large hands surrounding mine.

"Okay. Well, Luce, I'm replacing you on the team for Lisanna."

I think my heart just stopped. Yep. It definitely stopped.

I shake my head side to side, forcing a smile, "I'm sorry, Natsu. I don't think I heard that correctly. It sounded like you're replacing me on the team with Lisanna..." I trail off hoping he'll correct me. That any moment he'll laugh then smile his toothy grin and tell me it's all one, big, awful joke.

But it is quite the opposite. Natsu smiles and says, "Nope! You heard it right, Luce! Lisanna is my new partner." He turns his head and looks across the guild hall to where the youngest Strauss sibling is sitting, talking with Happy. "Now you can go on solo missions so you can get stronger and not be so weak!"

I think my heart just broke. First it stops and now its not working. It's definitely not beating right. Maybe, with his dragon senses, Natsu heard it break. My lips feel frozen as I respond. "Oh. Okay, Natsu. I understand."

Is it bad I couldn't feel anything anymore?

"Now what did you wanna tell me, Luce?"

His hands were still holding mine, but I couldn't feel their unnatural heat. I gently pulled my hands from his. "Nothing, Natsu. It doesn't matter."

"You sure, Luce?"

"Yeah. Just forget it." He gives me a quizzical smile before jumping up and running over to Lisanna and Happy, a huge grin upon his face.

"Lucy," Mira says behind me, her voice conveying the same shock as her pale blue eyes.

I crash of thunder vibrates through the guild hall. I quickly stand, ignoring Mira's protests of staying and talking about this. I pull a wad of Jewels from my pocket and throw them on the bar top. "I'm going home." I tell her. I dodge between tables, not noticing people's wide eyes or open mouths. I didn't even notice the unnatural silence that had fallen over the guild as I dash out into the pouring rain.

I run through town. The rain soaking through my meager clothing in seconds as bright flashes of lightening light the street in front of me. I stumble over a lift in the cobbled street, but don't stop.

My feet don't even stop running when I breach the forest on the edge of town. I crash through the trees, roots grasping at my feet, branches whipping against my arms and face.

A tree root I hadn't seen in the rainy darkness snags my foot and I go crashing to the rough forest floor. I don't get up. It seems like too much work. I lay there with my cheek pressed into the dirt while rain pelts my back and mixes with the tears slowly falling from my eyes.

I don't know how long I lay there, but at some point the rain had stopped. The quite plip-plip of water falling off the leaves the only sound I hear.

"Princess," a quiet voice breaks the relative silence. I know this voice. It's warm and deep and has a slight rumble to it. I crack my eyes open and look up into his concerned face.

"Loke."

He kneels next to me and his warm hands grip my shoulders and help me to sit up. I'm cold, shivering. Loke slides off his suit jacket and drapes it around my shoulders.

"What happened here?" He asks gently as he slides a thumb over my damp cheeks. It stings a little and when he brings his hand forward for me to see, I notice a smear of red. "You're covered in cuts."

I raise a shaking hand to my cheeks and it comes away red as well. "Ouch."

"Come on, Princess. Lets get you home." He stands and offers his hand down to me. I grab it a slowly stand. My legs are trembling and stiff from the cold. Walking through the dark underbrush is too challenging for me in this state so Loke slips his arms around my shoulders and under my knees and picks me up bridal style. I don't complain. I'm too cold and tired and Loke is so warm. I snuggle into his warmth.

We exit the forest quickly and are soon walking through the puddle filled streets of Magnolia. We reach my apartment and Loke sets me down. He grabs my key ring from my belt and opens the door. He takes my cold hand in his and leads me inside.

Loke leads me to my worn couch. I sit and he replaces the jacket around my shoulders with a pale grey afghan. I watch as he slips into the kitchen, and hear him tinkering around with my old gas stove, starting tea.

I'm staring at my hands, hiding my eyes behind the curtain of my dripping hair, when Loke returns, a streaming cup of tea in his hands.

"Here. Drink this. It'll warm you up." I take the steaming cup and take a tentative sip. The hot tea trails a path down to my stomach. Loke disappears into the bathroom and when he comes back he has the first aid kit in hand. I've drank all my tea.

He opens the kit and pulls out bandages, gauze, and rubbing alcohol. He gently pushes my hair from my eyes and tilts my head up. My cheek stings where he runs the rubbing alcohol over it. When he finishes with the cuts on my face he moves to the ones on my arms.

I drop my head, once again covering my eyes as I say, "I'm sorry, Loke." Tears threaten the corners of my eyes.

He finished bandaging my arms. "What for, Princess? These?" He gestures to my freshly bandaged arms and face. "This is nothing to be sorry for."

I shake my head, "No. Not those."

His long fingers push away my hair so he can see my eyes, "What then? Hey! Hey, what? Lucy, what?" His thumbs brush over my cheeks, wiping away freshly falling tears.

"I'm sorry I'm so weak." I whisper.

"Whoa, wait, what? Who told you you were weak?" Loke asks, wrapping his arms around my shaking frame.

I bury my head in the crook between his neck and his shoulder. I murmur, "Natsu." More tears fall from my eyes.

Loke is quiet for a couple of minutes, letting me cry it out. His hands smooth my hair and he murmurs words of comfort in my ear. He shifts us, on the couch, so that I'm cradled in his arms.

My tears eventually run out and I lift my head. "Sorry ...about your ...clothes." I say between hiccupy breaths. His shirt is wet from my tears and the water that had still been in mine.

I feel his chest shake against my ear as he laughs. It's not his booming laugh, just a quiet chuckle. "I don't care about my clothes," I crack a tiny smile and he continues. "Tell me what Natsu did."

I take a shaky breath and tell him. It's not easy fessing up my feelings to Loke like it had been with Mirajane, but I do. I recount the story up until the point where Loke found me in the forest.

"How did you find me anyway?" I ask when I finish.

Loke's face is hard as iron as he mulls over the story. He's not happy, I can see it in the tight line of his jaw.

"I'm sorry, Princess. What did you say?" He's being overly polite. He's even angrier than I thought.

"How did you find me in the forest?"

"Oh. Well, I could sense something wasn't right, and when I broke through my gate to check on you, I was standing on the outskirts of town facing the forest. Your scent got stronger leading into it so I followed and found you, face pressed into the dirt and soaking wet, tripped over a log." He looks down at me, his green eyes troubled. "Princess, you know you are the furthest thing from weak right?"

I break eye contact and study my tea cup intently. "Yeah." I finally say after a moment of heavy silence.

Loke sighs and tightens his arms around me. He doesn't believe me. I don't even believe me. I tuck my head into the crook of his neck.

We stay that way for a long time. I can feel my eyes slipping shut when Loke shifts my weight and picks me up. He moves quietly across my apartment and lays me on my pink comforter covered bed. He pulls the sheets over me. In my sleepy state I feel his fingers gently trail over my cheeks, tracing a line down my jaw.

"Goodnight, Princess. Sleep well."

I don't sleep well. My dreams are different variations of what happened at the guild today. Natsu tells me I'm off the team and the guild laughs. Natsu tells me I'm off the team then starts sucking face with Lisanna. Natsu tells me I'm off the team and laughs in my face. Every time I wake up, tears streaming from my eyes, and I end up crying myself into another terrible dream.

Early morning sunlight filters through my flimsy curtains and hits me square in the face. I groan and roll over, burying my head in my pillows. When the light doesn't go away I decide to get up.

In my restless hours of sleep last night I decided something.

After a hot shower I'm feeling refreshed and absolutely certain in my decision. I re-bandage my cuts and scrapes. Once I finish with that I pull a bag from my closet and begin filling it with clothes. I throw in my letters to my mother and my manuscript as well.

I feel a stir in the magic surrounding me a moment before Loke's voice rumbles through my apartment.

"Good morning, Princess." He eyes my bag with curiosity. "Going on a mission?"

"Hi, Loke. And yes, I suppose you could call it that." I say as I heft the heavy bag onto my shoulders.

"Let me take that. My beautiful Master shouldn't have to carry such a heavy bag." Loke says as he plucks the bag off my shoulders.

"You're a flirt, you know that?" I can't keep the small playful smile from my lips. We leave my apartment and walk the cobbled streets of Magnolia toward the guild hall.

"Oh, yes, I'm well aware." He smirks and runs a hand through his fiery mane of orange hair. "Why are we headed for the guild?"

"I need to talk to Master for a couple of minutes."

We walk the rest of the way in silence. When we enter the guild its practically empty. Then again it's pretty early in the morning and most don't arrive until noon or so when they wake up. The few mages here wave and say good morning and I say good morning back.

I head for the bar where Mira I busy polishing beer mugs. She seems surprised to see me so early in the morning. Her eyes open further as she takes in my bandage covered arms and face. "Lucy! What happened to you?"

"Oh. I, um, fell?" I say lamely. Out of the corner of my eye I see Loke giving me a knowing look. "Hey, Mira, is the Master upstairs?" I ask.

She's slow to respond. "Yes," She eventually says.

I smile at her, "Thanks, Mira. Loke..."

"Nope. I'm coming with you."

I sigh. "We'll be back, Mira."

I can feel her eyes following us as we make our way up to the second floor of the guild.

We stop outside Makarov's office. Loke is looking at me quizzically. He opens his mouth to say something, but I beet him to it.

"Please don't say anything while were inside, Loke." I look at him, "Please."

He nods his head reluctantly and I rap my knuckles against the door.

"Come in."

I open the door and we walk through. Master Makarov is sitting behind a desk covered in piles of paperwork. He gestures to the two chairs across from him and we sit.

"Lucy, Loke, what can I do for you today?"

Loke looks at me. I take a calming breath before answering. "Master, I'm leaving Fairy Tail."

Master's eyes open wide and his mouth opens and closes like a gaping fish. He can't seem to find his voice, but Loke did.

"What!? Lucy, you can't!"

I hold up my hand to stop any further protests, from either him or Makarov. "I've though about this and it's what I want to do. Master, I'm not doing this because I don't like Fairy Tail; I love Fairy Tail and everyone in it."

"T-then why?" the look of shock still hans't left his wrinkled, old face.

I look down at my hands, clenched around the hem of my skirt. "I'm weak," I look up and meet Makarov's eyes. "and I want to become stronger."

"And you can't do that here? With everyone you love supporting you?"

I shake my head sadly, "No. I need to do this, Master. Please."

His eyes are sad, tears brimming around the edges as he hops off his chair and comes around the large desk. His tiny hands grasp my own and a pale green light shines from them. "Will you be back?" he asks as he removes his hands.

I study my right hand, now devoid of the pink Fairy Tail mark I had grown so accustom to seeing. Tears slip from my eyes and trail down my cheeks. I smile down at Makarov, "Of course. I love Fairy Tail. I could never just leave it behind."

I stand and Loke follows, grabbing my heavy bag as he does so. We move silently to the door, leaving Makarov standing by our empty chairs. I wipe the tears from my eyes. I open the door and Loke steps through, making his way down to the first floor of the guild. I turn over my shoulder. "I will be back. I promise." I walk out and firmly close the door behind me.

I stand there a second, taking a few deep breaths, when I hear Makarov's quiet voice through the closed door.

"You will always have a home here."

I smile sadly and make my way down the creaky wooden stairs to join Loke. He's talking quietly with Mira at the bar. When he spots me, he turns and asks, "Ready?"

I cover my right hand with my left, though I have a feeling Mira already saw my missing mark. "Yeah. Lets go."

I say goodbye to Mira and everyone else in the guild before closing the heavy front doors behind us.

"Where to, Princess?" Loke asks as we wind our way through town.

"The train station."

"And from there?"

"I don't know." I say honestly. "I just want to get as far from Magnolia as possible for the time being."

Loke doesn't answer. When I peek at his face his jaw is tight and his eyes hard.

"You're not happy about this." It's not a question.

We reach the train station. He studies the departure board intently before buying two tickets. I trust him enough to not ask where we're going. The train arrives and we board in silence. We find an empty cabin and claim it as ours. The train has left the station when he decides to respond.

"No. I'm not happy. Fairy Tail is your home. Our home. And you're just leaving them behind."

"I need to get stronger, Loke." I say quietly.

Loke sighs from his seat across from me. He stands and sits next to me. His warm arms wrap around my shoulders as he pulls me into a tight hug. "I know." He whispers sadly in my ear.

After a couple of minutes I gently push him away. "So where are we going?"

He smirks knowingly. "Somewhere I went to train when I was in exile. I think you'll like it. Its a great little town surrounded by a huge forest."

"Sounds great."

He laughs and I can't stop the smile from turning up my lips. I watch out the window as trees flash past.

"You'll help me, right, Loke?"

"You better believe it, Princess."

I close my eyes and wait to see where my training will begin.

* * *

**Hey everyone. So I've began rewriting this story. I wasn't thrilled with how it was before. I hope everyone likes the new version :) but let me know.**

**Also, Character rights go to Hiro Mashima**


	2. Chapter 2

It has been two days. Two days of nothing but train travel. I am crabby and grouchy and my muscles feel stiff from not using them in nearly forty-eight hours.

"We have to be close right?" I plead. I've been doing this a lot today. Come to think of it, I did it a lot yesterday too.

"Yep. I can see the edge of the forest now." Loke says, pointing a long finger out the open window in the direction of lush forest. The trees are huge and the leaves so tightly packed together that it's impossible to see through them from this distance.

A jolt runs through the train as the brakes are thrown, causing me to nearly fall off my red leather bench.

"We are now approaching Woodland Station." A monotone voice came over the speaker system and drawls on. I turn to look at Loke, standing near the door to our cabin, my heavy bag in hand.

I arch an eyebrow and ask, "Woodland? Seriously? We rode the train for two day to go to _Woodland_?"

Loke shrugs his shoulders, "I thought you would like to train in the quiet, peaceful forest. To start." He smiles, his eyes glinting behind blue tinted sunglasses.

I gulp and stand next to him, waiting for the train to stop moving. When it does we are quick to exit, narrowly missing the bottleneck of passengers shoving each other to get off the train.

We glance back at them and cant help chuckling at their expense.

Loke places a hand on my shoulder, "Come on, I know a great little Inn, not to far from here, where I once stayed. I wonder if Shima still remembers me…" he trails off as he leads me through the brightly cobbled streets of town.

I had to admit, not verbally of course, Loke would enjoy that too much, but Woodland was beautiful. The forest could be seen peaking over the tops of wood buildings, which on the outside looked old, like they might cave in any minute, but on the inside probably looked pretty modern. The streets were cobbled in a mix of multi-hued stones ranging in color from crimson, to sparkling gold, to a light emerald.

The building Loke leads us to was positioned right on the edge of the forest, the back half practically part of the woods, there was so much moss and trailing ivy growing on the brick façade. He pulls open the heavy wooden door and bends slightly at the waist, a playful smile touching his lips. "After you, Princess."

I bop him lightly on the head as I pass him. "Goofball." I mutter.

Something that vaguely resembles a communications Lacrima flashes by an inch from the side of my face and my eyes pop open wide. I hear a loud "Oof!" behind me.

The communications Lacrima hits Loke square on the side of the head. I wince when I see the purpling lump form near his temple.

"Get out." A sharp voice barks.

Loke, rubbing the lump on his head, turns on his 'charming' smile. "Aw, Shima, don't be that way. It's just me."

"That's what I was afraid of." An elderly woman mutters as she moves out from behind the host stand. She's about Makarov's height, with wiry grey hair, and the beady eyes of a raven.

She glances over me quickly, dismissing me as just another girl Loke brought to her Inn. "What do you want, Leo?" It was rare for someone to use his Celestial name. I gave Loke a quizzical look.

He ran a hand through his orange mane, "I was dealing with Karen stuff last time I was here and Shima was kind enough to listen." He pauses and glances at the short woman, "She doesn't like me too much now…"

"You kept coming back drunk and with whores stuck like leaches on your arms." Shima's eyebrow twitched in irritation. "Now, what do you want?" she asks again.

"A room." I say quickly before Loke can retort.

Again Shima's beady eyes rove over my curves and she snorts. "Why? So he can fuck your brains out too?"

I think my jaw just landed on the navy carpeted floor.

Loke is sputtering behind me, trying to form a coherent sentence at the same time he was trying to hide a furious blush.

Eventually he managed to get out, "Lucy is my new Master."

Shima's thin fingers made air quotes, "Master." She says as she hops up onto a stool behind the large host stand.

I swear, my jaw is going to break from hitting the floor so many times in a row. The way Shima said, 'Master', made it sound like such a dirty word.

Shima picks up a pen and flips open a notebook.

"Whose name am I to put this under? Yours," she points the end of the pen at me, "or Leo's?" she points at Loke.

"Mine."

"Name?"

"Lucy Heartfilia." her eyes opened fractionally at my name, but she continues like nothing had happened.

"How long will you be staying?"

I look at Loke. He had brought me to Woodland with training in mind; he should know how long we're going to be staying.

The lion spirit rubs at his jaw for a moment, thinking, before finally answering. "Put us down for two weeks, a month tops."

Again, Shima's eyes opened slightly wider as she finished scribbling something in her notebook. She turns on her stool and grabs a medium sized brass key from the wall behind her.

Jumping off her stool, she began walking down the hallway. "Follow me." She tosses over her thin shoulder. Loke quickly picks up my bag and we scurry down the hall after her.

We stop at a door in the back of the Inn, next to the emergency exit. Shima inserts the brass key in the lock and opens the door for us. "Here's your room." Loke and I walk into the room. Shima doesn't follow, "Let me know if there's anything I can do for _you_, Ms. Heartfilia." She says before walking away.

Loke pops his head out the open door and shouts after her retreating figure, "What about me?!"

I can't help but giggle at Loke as I take in the room. It was a simple room, nothing too fancy. A worn desk, attached bathroom, a Television Lacrima, a red tattered couch with matching armchairs around a small coffee table, and a large, king sized bed.

Loke drops my heavy bag onto the coffee table and turns to face me. A devilish smile spreads across his strong features. He rubs his hands together gleefully.

"Ready to start training, Princess?"

I gulp loudly, clearing my throat. I hadn't expected to start training so early, especially not an hour after we arrived. "Um...no?"

Loke grabs my arm and pulls me out of the room, "Too bad. We're here to train and train we shall. When you return to Fairy Tail you will give the Titania a run for her money." he smiles back at me as we exit the hotel and Loke pulls me around the back. "I promise."

I smile at him. Loke's never been one to break a promise. He once promised me that he would always be there for me and protect me from danger and he has never let me down.

Next thing I know, Loke's dragging me through the bodies of trees on the edge of the forest.

"Hey! Where are we going?"

"To train. What else would we be doing in the forest?"

I huff out a breath and jerk my arm from his grasp, but keep following him.

I follow Loke in silence for quite some time, twisting between trees, over moss-covered logs, around thistle bushes, all the while our feet crunch through layers of dead leaves.

Eventually the trees thinned and I found myself standing in a clearing, dappled sunlight filtering through the trees above for just the right amount of light.

"Perfect. I knew I remembered the way." Loke says proudly beside me.

"Okay, so now what?"

"Well, to start with I need to see where your skills are at. Offensively and defensively."

Loke led me to the center of the clearing and held up his hand like he wanted a high five. "Punch me."

"Excuse me?"

"Punch my hand. It won't hurt me." He says, noticing my worried look. "It's just to see your form and strength."

"Okay." I pull my right arm back at shoulder height, curl my fingers tight with my thumb on top, and swing.

My fist connects solidly with Loke's palm creating a sharp smacking sound.

Loke looks a little surprised, "Good. That was really good. It lacked some force but we can fix that. Where did you learn to punch like that?"

"Grey taught me the basics on a mission we did a while back. Was it really okay?"

"Yeah, for a baseline punch, very good. It needs work, but it was really good. Okay, next is the kick."

"Are you sure? My kick is pretty strong…" I say as Loke takes up a blocking stance.

"Totally, you can't hurt me remember, Princess?" he sounds totally confident.

"If you're sure." I stand with my right leg slightly in front of my left. In a blur of motion, my right leg is tucked against my chest then flashing forward toward the center of Loke's chest. I moved so fast, that even Loke's impressive defensive skills couldn't stop my kick.

"Lucy kick!" I shout as my foot connects and sends Loke flying across the clearing and into the rough bark of a tree thirty feet away. He slides down the tree and slumps against the ground.

I rush to his side to check on him. "Loke? You okay?"

A weak laugh escapes his lips and he cracks his green eyes open. "You're right. Your kick is much, much stronger. I should have listened to you." I smile and help him stand.

"What next?"

For the next couple of hours we stay in that little clearing in Woodland forest, sparring, learning, getting better. When dusk began to fall, and we were covered in bruises and nearly drained of all magic. With the setting sun casting our shadows long across the clearing, we decided to go back to the Inn.

Loke offers me his hand and pulls my battered body off the ground. "Let's go."

"Mmm." I agree.

We move slowly across the clearing and suddenly, I feel Loke tense next to me and we stop. His sharp eyes are scanning the line of trees in front of us, his ears twitching slightly as he listens.

I scoot as close to him as I can and whisper, "Loke?"

He doesn't respond, just positions himself further in front of me. I grip the back of his suit coat. Not knowing what was potentially just beyond sight in the trees was terrifying, more so due to my lack of magic, knowing Loke was the same.

"Loke? What's out there?" my hands tremble.

"I don't know, it smells _wrong,_ just stay behind - " his eyes widen fractionally before he turns his back on the forest, tightly wrapping his arms around me. He jerks forward a second later, taking whatever blow had come from the forest.

"Loke? Loke?!" he didn't answer me. When he finally lets me go and turns back around to face the threat and I had to cover my mouth at the sight of his singed back. His jacket and a good part of the white shirt under it were singed away, and his tanned back burned to a black crisp, small cuts bleeding freely through the cracked skin.

Something dark steps from the dusky forest shadows. Peeking over Loke's shoulder, I had a hard time distinguishing it from the shadows themselves. The shadow figure lifts its' hands, an ember red magic circle glowing between them.

Loke, too focused on the threat directly in front of us, didn't see the attack coming from the left. A blow from this new shadow clad figure sends me crashing into a tree across the small clearing.

"Lucy!" in his moment of distraction Loke didn't see the attack coming straight at him.

"Loke! Look out!" he whirls around and catches the attack in the middle of his chest. He lifts a hand to the bleeding would and begins fading away.

"What? No! I have to protect Lucy!" he's shouting. He looks at me with fear in his eyes. He knows I'm nearly out of magic and have two attackers creeping ever closer to me. "Lucy! Run!"

Those were his last words before I couldn't see him anymore. He was gone.

And I follow his instructions to a 'T'.

I run.

I could feel the shadow creatures pursuing me.

They are getting closer.

I glance over my shoulder and am greeted with burning red eyes in a mass of shadows.

I trip because I'm not paying attention to where I'm going.

I twist as I fall, landing on my back and knocking the air from my lungs. A hand grabs my throat, pulls me up off the leaf-covered floor, and pins me to a tree.

I can't breathe. This thing and its friend are taking immense joy in my pain. I can see it in their jagged smiles, glinting brightly in their dark faces.

"Pain." They whisper disjointedly before one plunges a dagger into my side.

An inhuman wail breaks through the forest and it takes a second to recognize it as my voice echoing back from between the trees.

My cheeks are wet with tears and the lack of oxygen is getting to my brain.

Why me?

My vision grows darker. I can hear the things' cackling laughter and this awful sucking noise as the dagger is ripped from my side. Another pain filled scream rings through the clearing.

I'm out of air.

I can't see.

My ears are ringing.

I'm going to die.

The hand pinning my throat disappears and wind whistles by before I hit the ground.

I suck in a huge breath, coughing as I try to get as much air as possible.

When I can breathe properly, I sit up. The shadow creatures are gone though their sick laugh still bounces back off the surrounding trees.

I suck in another breath, inching my way slowly to a tree and force my way up its' rough bark, leaning against it for support. I nearly tumble to the ground from the staggering pain that rips through my side. I press a hand the area, hoping pressure will help as I begin trying to find my way back to the practice clearing.

Little do I know of the crimson trail dripping through my fingers with every labored breath.

I eventually push through the branches at the edge of the forest. I feel weird. My knees are shaking, my breathing too shallow, and everything is tilting at this really weird angle.

I throw my hands out just before I hit the ground, cushioning my fall.

I try to blink the blurriness from my eyes, and when everything stops dancing I notice the dark crimson stains on my fingers. My whole arm really.

Blood covers nearly every inch of visible skin from my elbow to my fingertips. I can feel the hot, sticky pool spreading from the wound on my side, as I lay on my stomach.

I weakly attempt to flip onto my back, but I just flop back to the ground with a soft thud.

The green scenery around me is starting to dance again, but this time it's fading at the edges. My eyes feel heavy. When they close and I can't open them again, I feel a tear slip from my lashes.

I am going to die, in the middle of the forest, my face pressing into the dirt, in a pool of my own blood.

I am never going to see Fairy Tail again.

Loke broke his promise.

I fall into the warm arms of unconsciousness.


End file.
